First off I have to say I am very impressed and happy with these M80's. I bought them second hand from a friend. They are the V2's. Amazing soundstage and these are putting to shame a lot of my poorly recorded music that I have been listening to for awhile not realizing how bad it is.

Now to the issue at hand. I have this crispiness/crackling sound(sorry for the non-technical description) coming from pretty much what seems to be the top tweeter. Its like a slight popping type noise. I went ahead and ordered a couple of new tweeters feeling pretty confident that was the issue, in the meantime I swapped out the tweeters from my vp150 in to the m80 to see if that would fix the problem. Well it was still there.

Other things I have tried was to switch the M80 with the issue to the channel and connections of the M80 without any issue and the problem is still there. It doesn't happen all the time, only some songs trigger it, and for the most part the higher the quality the recording is, the less it is there or not there at all.

My setup is an Emotiva XPA-5 and Marantz SR6005 AVR. I am running some older Audyssey equalizer setting from my previous speakers, but I don't think this would cause an issue in just one speaker, I would think it would cause the issue with them all.

Anyways any input is much appreciated. Overall I am really enjoying these, its just when I hear the noise I go looking for it in every recording I listen to.

I did explain the issue to them when I ordered the tweeters and they were pretty sure it was the tweeter as well. I was worried it could be the crossover. The gentleman I spoke to seems to think if it was a crossover issue I wouldn't be getting any sound or possibly worse issues.

Other things I have tried was to switch the M80 with the issue to the channel and connections of the M80 without any issue and the problem is still there.

Is that the same speaker or the same channel? If it is the same channel then the problem is not the speaker but the amp or the pre/pro. If it is the same speaker then I would suspect the problem is in the crossover considering you have already swapped the tweeters out.

You really should rerun Audyssey or stop using it if it is setup for you old speakers, as the previous EQ is most likely not really helping the Axiom's sound the best

Sorry about that, it was the same speaker switched to a different channel. Im going to stop running the old setting as well. Been waiting to run the audyssey setup until I position everything the way I want(just moved)

For example I am listening to Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits and the entire first minute intro of the song the tweeter makes that crackling noise. My other m80 has no crackling. The recording is pretty good quality as well.

I pulled the crossover out a bit just to take a look for something obvious(although i really have no idea what I am looking at) It looks like the glue holding the top board is coming off and it is falling down a bit. I have pictures if I could figure out how to post them.

Nothing looked obviously disconnected or anything, then again I'm no expert.

To host a picture you have to upload to something like photobucket and then copy the link into the reply . Look for bulging of the capacitors,they are the brown parts in the pic.Also make sure all connections are tight on the back speaker connector panel where the red and black wires join.

Interesting, there must have been a change up in the design of the cross over . The picture I posted is a v2 M80 . It appears your crossover is attached to the terminal cup.? Without any obvious signs of leakage and since I doubt you have any equipment for testing the capacitors or resistors I would say either send that crossover in for diagnosis or see if they will sell you a replacement.

Since you bought these from a friend, I would assume you have listened to music at his place in the past, did this noise ever present itself before?

My buddy bought these from someone else, so I only heard them for a few minutes in his garage. Sounded great in there at minimal volume. He was more or less letting me audition these, as I have heard a few different similarly priced speakers and these sound the best, when the crackling isn't there! I auditioned the heavily praised KEF q900's, liked the Axioms way better!

My buddy bought these from someone else, so I only heard them for a few minutes in his garage. Sounded great in there at minimal volume. He was more or less letting me audition these, as I have heard a few different similarly priced speakers and these sound the best, when the crackling isn't there! I auditioned the heavily praised KEF q900's, liked the Axioms way better!

Well that's a shame really. I know it would drive me bonker's, I am bit OC at time's. Really sound like the best bet is to box up the crossover and overnight it to axiom. Should not cost too much to do that.Axiom is pretty good to deal with from my experience.

No, the VP150 does not use the same crossover. Moreover, each time the tweeter in the M80s has been upgraded or the frequency response tweaked or smoothed out (which occurred with the original M80ti), then the v2 and now the v3, the values of the crossover parts are changed. All the v3 versions of the Axiom lineup use the new tweeter.

It's rare that a crossover has problems, but it can happen. When you contact Axiom, have the serial numbers of your M80s handy so they'll know which crossover is in your M80s.

Yeah, I have swapped both tweeters out with the tweeters from my vp150.

I watched some movie trailers and Skyfall last night, sounds to me like the crossover isn't preventing the lower frequencies from being passed to the tweeters. I went ahead and disconnected them as it is just too bothersome.

So it looks like it really has to be the crossover.

On a side note, watching Skyfall with the EP500 is just crazy, better than in the theaters!

Does anyone else who has the EP500 or above find it to be too much for most music? I have another sub(DEF Tech) that I usually use when listening to music, I feel like I get a better appreciation for M80s with less over the top bass! Just reserve the EP500 for movies!

. . .Does anyone else who has the EP500 or above find it to be too much for most music? I have another sub(DEF Tech) that I usually use when listening to music, I feel like I get a better appreciation for M80s with less over the top bass! Just reserve the EP500 for movies!

Hi megreg, I'm a very lucky guy with four (4) Axiom EP800 subwoofers in my dedicated Axiom home theatre room. My aray of subwwofers delivers a stellar musical performance. It is true that having four subwoofers makes integration with my main Axiom M80s and dual VP180s a breeze. I assure you that you could be able to get a very satisfactory and highly musical performance from your single Axiom EP500 as well. I started my Axiom adventure with a single Axiom EP500 sub. The key is to take the necessary time and action to maximize integration with your main speakers. Your first and most inportant step is to find its optimal location. Axiom offers a video featuring Alan which will facilitates this operation. Subwoofer crawl

Then the subwoofer volume level should be done using musical material. Depending on your taste for bass content you might feel the need to increase the volume level for movie material. The issue for the right and appropriate bass level for movies is that there is no reference point. Some listeners will find bass lacking while others find it overwhelming and, at the same time for the remaining ones, it is perfect.

Yeah, I have swapped both tweeters out with the tweeters from my vp150.

I watched some movie trailers and Skyfall last night, sounds to me like the crossover isn't preventing the lower frequencies from being passed to the tweeters. I went ahead and disconnected them as it is just too bothersome.

So it looks like it really has to be the crossover.

On a side note, watching Skyfall with the EP500 is just crazy, better than in the theaters!

Does anyone else who has the EP500 or above find it to be too much for most music? I have another sub(DEF Tech) that I usually use when listening to music, I feel like I get a better appreciation for M80s with less over the top bass! Just reserve the EP500 for movies!

I dunno, perhaps, compared to the Def Tech, in the EP500, you are just hearing what is a superior sub that is capable of reproducing the full range of frequencies that the Def Tech is not and in addition, is could be that the "500" is interacting with your room differently. In that case, it is just a matter of making the appropriate volume adjustment on the EP500. Movies or music, a superior sub is going to make it all sound better.

When I first ran my new HT, I had set the levels of my twin Velo 10" subs (nowhere near the EP500 in performance) to 4 out of 10. Later on, I mustered up the courage to run Audyssey from my Denon AVR & the results showed that Level 4 was way too high & was outside it's ability to correct it. After several more calibration runs of progressively lowering the subs' volume, Level 2.5 ended up being within Audyssesy's correction range.

My HT is now quite awesome for movies & wonderful for music without being over the top. This exercise proved to me that without a calibration system or an SPL meter, it is quite difficult to set the levels correctly by ear alone. I think that we generally tend to overdo it on bass levels because the sound is so impressive, but in reality it is actually overblown; however, some people like it that way.

For me, I find that too much bass produces annoying buzzes & rattles in my furnace/fireplace ducting inside my walls/ceilings that I would rather not hear...